Mother, daughter say they are fighting with bank to get paid bac - KMOV.com

A North St. Louis County mother and daughter said thousands of dollars were drained from their bank account by a scammer. Now, they are fighting with the bank to get their money back.

Denise Black and her daughter Lynzi are having a hard time understanding how someone wreaked havoc on their finances.

Lynzi opened her account with Bank of America as a minor, so it is linked to her mom's account. The pair has been battling the bank for over a year.

“In a perfect world, I would like to see our money refunded and Bank of America accountable for whoever made these charges,” Denise said.

In August 2016, two checks were deposited into Lynzi's account. They are from a store called Once Upon A Child in Gambrills, Maryland, made out to Lynzi, signed by someone named Kendall Erving.

But Lynzi has never been to a Once Upon A Child store, has never been to Maryland and does not know a Kendall Erving.

The Blacks said after the checks were deposited, someone withdrew large sums of money from an ATM in Marlboro Maryland, which is more than 800 miles from Lynzi's home.

After the questionable checks were deposited, the scammer withdrew real money belonging to Denise and Lynzi. The women said the scam sent their finances into a $5,000 tail spin.

After complaining to the bank, they noticed something bizarre with the account. At one point, the negative balance was almost $1 million.

Bank of America tells News 4 the organization can not comment for privacy reasons.

You can report fraud like this to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Federal regulations minimize the amount you are responsible for if you report the fraud right away. You can find more about unauthorized transactions here.

You can also set up an alert on your bank account in the case of large deposits or withdrawals.

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